An exciting new era in music is underway at Holy Trinity, with the arrival of our highly talented Director of Music, Chris Achenbach, and the installation of the new organ, a state-of-the-art instrument and the finest of its kind in Britain.

Chris, a music therapist, jazz pianist, organist and composer, played his first Sunday service on April 12th and is now making plans for Holy Trinity’s musical future - and he is especially excited at the arrival of the new organ.

Chris explained: “We are getting a virtual organ, which uses samples of real organs. It gives you the chance to change between an English organ, a French romantic organ or a German baroque. It makes the instrument very versatile.

“Every organ has its peculiarities and sampling real instruments means you can capture the unique sound of a particular organ. This is very exciting, because there are very different styles of organ music and the pieces sound best on the instruments they were written for.”

Chris is hoping the new instrument, manufactured by Polish firm Magnus using the Hauptwerk operating system, will attract other organists who would want to perform recitals and allow a new flexibility to music within the church service.

Chris said: “In the liturgy, we want to use music to reflect the different times of the year. For example, Advent is a reflective season; Lent is penitential. The nature of the music changes so that we can mark Advent, Christmas, Easter and other seasons in different ways.”

Chris also outlined other plans he is working on for Holy Trinity, which includes expanding the role of the choir by inviting guest singers to join us for a monthly Choral Evensong, developing a children’s choir and creating a calendar of concerts and organ recitals.